Wednesday, November 21, 2007

in 1966 the Noank Fishing Smack Emma C. Berry celebrated her 100th anniversary. The ECB was docked at Admiral Farragut Academy for a number of years in the 60's. Thanks to one of our teachers Dayton Newton, we got to practice restoration techniques on her. Eventually she wound up at Mystic Connecticut. One of the more disappointing aspects of this adventure though is that no where is there literature attesting to the fact that she was resident at AFA and that we did some work on her. Not at Mystic, not in a book detailing her history and restoration. no record anywhere. So I feel an important piece was left out of her history. About the only proof that she was at Farragut during those years are photographs of the ECB at the waterfront which are on the flyleafs of our yearbooks back then.

We'll be spending it at the in-laws who have a huge home because the extended family is very large. I'll have to try to figure out how to be nice and politely refuse second helpings, etc. Because there are always gargantuan amounts of food at these events and we always take a ton of it home with us. But my docotor has told me to be a good little boy and cut down on a lot of food that I love.

I can't eat steak, shellfish, turkey, spinach, beans and on and on. I told her you might as well just hook me up to a bag of glucose since you took all the fun out of eating anyway.

At any rate it will be good to see everyone around the table if even for a short while. I just want Dallas to lose that's all!! :0-)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Went to Mystic, Connecticut last weekend, Regina went to needlepoint classes and I read alot and visited the Aquarium. Those Beluga whales are really something. Smart and funny to watch. The trainers can really get them going with all kinds of racket. I purchased a membership at the Aquarium for the two of us. Next time we come it will be at no charge. I'm aiming for this summer.

The only thing that bothered me is that Sunday was Veteran's Day and while my service to the nation was thanked, it was thanked with me wearing the cap of the USS Zuni, I did indeed serve on the physical ship but only when she was the Tamaroa. In other words, people definitely recognized me as a veteran because of a Navy cap. But Coast Guard service on the same vessel rarely got me as many thanks as I received this past weekend. Kind of a disappointment.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

I've loved fountain pens for years. You can tell a real fountain pen lover by the ink stains on their hands usually caused by recalcitrant fountain pens. I have some expensive ones and some not so very expensive. Just like watches or cars though, the cost does not mean its the best. I have several pens that cost a fortune and they don't write near as well as a 45.00 Parker pen that I own. One of my favorite sites is www.pentrace.com. Its a great board that has a yellow board (pen conversations only) and a green board (buy,sell,trade). It has a lot of great people on board who are eager to share their knowledge and enthusiam about fountain pens. A vendor I go to a lot is www.joon.com. Its a great store in New York City. Not the best prices around but if you need something quick, they get it to you overnight tout suite no problem.